Page 483 - Orlicky's Material Requirements Planning

460 PART 4 Looking Backward and Forward

ing priority of stocked orders. When everything is the priority, nothing is the priority.
Under these circumstances, most manufacturing personnel would focus attention on the
actual customer order and wait for the expeditor to determine the most needed stock
orders. Adding due dates to the picture provides some sort of sequence to the stock
orders. That sequence may or may not be correct based on the actual priority of the com-
pany. However, at least it is something by which to sort. Even with discrete due dates
assigned to stock orders, the actual customer order would get immediate attention by
default in most manufacturing companies.
Figure 27-4 is what it would look like if buffer status were provided for the stock
orders. In both cases, the views are sorted by buffer status on stock orders and place an
actual customer order at the top if it is the closest order with regard to due date. Now
there is clear visibility to manufacturing personnel for the relative stock order priorities.
While this information will not completely resolve the potential conflict between an
actual customer order and a high-priority stock order, at least it brings more perspective
to the dilemma. That perspective can be available to all potential concerned parties (i.e.,
operations, sales, and customer service). Included in this perspective is that replenished
and replenished override buffers are strategically selected points of protection for the sys-
tem. They have been carefully selected based on several business factors (see Chapter 24).
Disregarding them actually may end up affecting more actual customer orders. In addi-
tion, this will cost the company lots of money in expedite-related expenses. Companies
need to understand and define how to resolve these dilemmas for their unique circum-
stances. Without understanding and conveying buffer status priority, however, the
chance of effectively resolving such dilemmas is slim at best.
In conventional MRP, any sort of visibility to or a specific answer about the real-time and
relative priority of orders according to buffer status often necessitates a manual workaround
or subsystem that necessitates massive daily efforts of analysis and adjustments.

FIGURE 27-4
Manufacturing orders prioritized by buffer status.

Order # OH Buffer Status Order Type Due Date Customer
MO 12379 MTO 5/12 SuperTech
MO 12401 12% (RED) Stock 5/14 Internal
MO 12465 27% (RED) Stock 5/12 Internal
MO 12367 33% (YELLOW) Stock 5/12 Internal
MO 12411 41% (YELLOW) Stock 5/16 Internal

Order # OH Buffer Status Order Type Due Date Customer
MO 12379 MTO 5/12 SuperTech
MO 12401 12% (RED) Stock Due Now Internal
MO 12465 27% (RED) Stock Due Now Internal
MO 12367 33% (YELLOW) Stock Due Now Internal
MO 12411 41% (YELLOW) Stock Due Now Internal